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They turned back to the pastor, this time with Oliver’s arm around Bessie, keeping her tucked closely against his side. The pastor pronounced them husband and wife, and Sage cheered as she tossed her flowers toward the altar.
Now, she just needed to get her head on straight, or she might lose the man who could stand at an altar like this and proclaim his love for her.
Her.
Sage wasn’t even sure she knew what it felt like to be loved. Since she’d come from a marriage that had turned out to be a sham, she honestly did not know. She had not been loved, even through the dating, the wedding, bringing three children into a family.
Jerry had never loved her, and she wasn’t even sure if someonecouldlove her. That brought tears to her eyes, and she tried to shake them away. “Of course you can be loved,” she whispered among all the celebrating. “Your friends love you.”
And in that moment, Sage knew that yes, her friends loved her. But there was nothing that compared to the love of a good man, and Sage wanted it for herself. So she hurried to Ty’s side and took his hand.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said, and Sage simply basked in his presence. She still had some things to figure out, but Ty wasn’t going anywhere right now.
* * *
“Monica!”Sage came around the corner at the salon and broke into a little run. She grabbed onto her client from Sweet Water Falls, who’d flown here to get her hair done.
They laughed together, and Sage pulled back. “Wow, you look so…relaxed.”
Monica reached up and bunched up her hair in her hands. It looked like she’d been dying it from home in the past couple of years since Sage had left Texas, but also like she’d been sleeping on the beach for a couple of days.
“How long have you been here?”
“Just came in yesterday,” she said as she followed Sage to the chair. “We’ve had a great day on the beach, though. The kids are loving it here.”
Sage pulled the drape around her friend and snapped it into place. “The beaches here are amazing,” she said. “How’s James handling the heat?”
Monica grinned and then rolled her eyes. “He’s got a swim shirt on that goes to his chin and his wrist.” She shook her head, and she did have a mane of hair. Sage had been doing Monica’s hair for years, and she could hardly believe she’d flown here to get her cut and color.
“What are we doing today?” she asked, because she always asked clients what they wanted. She never knew what they’d been looking at, what changes they wanted, or if they just wanted more of what they already had.
“I want you to make it that blonde that everyone comments on,” she said.
Sage knew what that was, and she grinned at her friend as she stared moving her fingers through Monica’s hair. “Take a couple of inches off. What do you think about bangs?”
“I wish they weren’t so popular,” Monica said, and that answered that question.
“I’ll put those chunky layers in the bottom,” Sage said. “Everyone at church will want to fly to Hilton Head to get their hair done.” She laughed and added, “I’ll go mix up.”
When she got back with the lightener, Monica met her eye in the mirror. “You look really good, Sage.”
“Aw, thanks.” She smiled at her friend and started bleaching out her roots. She’d use the heaviest lightener there, then put on something lighter the further down she went.
“No, I mean…it’s not about looking good. You seem…happier than you were in Texas.” Monica wasn’t grinning from ear to ear anymore, and she watched Sage in the mirror.
“Well,” she said carefully, wondering what Monica saw in her. “I am happy here, but I was happy in Sweet Water Falls too.”
“Okay,” Monica said. “You just seem like you’re thriving, that’s all.”
Sage flashed her a smile and kept working. The conversation moved to something else, but Sage reflected on what Monica said for the rest of the day. That night, she put together a simple dinner by opening a bagged salad and getting some precooked chicken breast out of the freezer. She opened her back door and let Gypsy out, then took her dinner onto her deck and sighed as she sat at the table.
The evening heat bore down on her, but she didn’t mind so much. The deck sat in the shade, and she got a little breeze off the water. Nothing big, like what happened on the east coast of Hilton Head. Her house was more sheltered, and she watched Gypsy sniff around the yard.
She’d eaten half her salad before she realized she’d left her phone somewhere. Sometimes, she felt chained to it, as she conducted so much business on it with the scheduling of her clients, the rescheduling, and then keeping up with her Supper Club. Today, Bea had told them all about Shelby’s graduation on the video app, and that had taken her entire drive home from the salon.
So she enjoyed the slow evening of sitting on her deck, picking at her salad, and patting her dog. She thought about her sons and her daughter, a soft smile coming to her face. She smiled at Gypsy as the dog finally came and flopped on the deck next to her.
She sighed with such pure contentment, and of course, then her mind caught on how perfectly peaceful her life was in this moment. She didn’t have a man at her side, but she pictured herself with Ty. They didn’t have to talk constantly, and he could be here on the deck and she’d feel the same way.
